1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the motion of jaw for the diagnosis of dental occlusion, and more practically, it relates to a jaw motion measuring apparatus which is short in measuring time and good at the degree of reproducibility.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The analysis of jaw motion is a fundamental element in the field of reconstruction of jaw occlusion and dental treatment of jaw or teeth. In this field, hand-operated apparatus was used to measure the motion of jaw and to analyze and reproduce it. But, this hand-operated apparatus has defects of long measuring time, which conflicts both patients and doctor all together, and the degree of reproducibility was unreliable. In addition, hand-operated apparatus is incapable of producing the adequate data for the diagnosis and treatment of jaw occlusion using CAD, which is in under condense research.
Nowadays the need for automated measuring apparatus is increasing, triggering a series of attempt for developing new automatic measuring apparatus and commercializing it. Those commercialized are using rotation sensor, magnetic sensor, infrared sensor or camera. Among these commercialized, the one using magnetic sensor made a relative success at market. But it is pretty expensive than the hand-operated apparatus, and has difficulties in defining the orbital plane, which is a important concept in the construction of prosthetic devices. Meanwhile, the measuring apparatus using cameras are under research, most of which are based on the Stereo Vision Processing technology employing marker, but was not commercialized yet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,778 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,390 disclose the apparatus using camera, but those inventions made no reference to the substantial dental occlusion and treatment, thus lacking practicality.
Especially, dental occlusion simulation system, which uses CAD technology, is under dynamic research, and such simulation system requires low-priced and automated jaw motion measuring apparatus.